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Green Party reiterates call to criminalize hydrofracking
By DAN MOSHER
July 08, 2013
As the Cuomo Administration continues to study the possible health risks associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the Green Party of New York state is reiterating its call for the complete criminalization of fracking.
According to the Green Party, a law to criminalize fracking is not only wanted by the public but necessary due to fracking's potentially destructive effects, not just on the environment, but on public health, economic stability and individual communities as well.
The Green Party has been calling for the criminalization of fracking since 2010 and has since been fighting to help local leaders stop fracking in their own communities by way of home rule measures.
Already in the town of Woodstock, a resolution has passed calling for the criminalization of hydraulic fracturing as outlined in New York Public Law 1 of the state's Penal Code.
Ulster County legislators were asked to follow in the footsteps of Woodstock officials and approve their own fracking criminalization resolution. If approved, the resolution proposed by the Sovereign People's Action Network of Ulster and Greene Counties, a grassroots organization comprised of concerned residents, would support Public Law 1 and the banning and criminalization of fracking in Ulster County.
"Fracking will lock us into climate catastrophe," said Gloria Mattera, co-chair of the state's Green Party. "Either we put all new energy investments into clean wind, water, and solar energy, or we burn fracked gas and emit enough carbon and methane to blow us past the 2 degree Celsius rise in temperatures that climate science tells us is the tipping point for runaway global warming."
"We are at a fork in the road," Mattera said.
A June 17 Siena College Poll found that New York voters are generally opposed to fracking 44 to 37 percent. Republicans support fracking nearly two to one, while Democrats oppose the issue by a two to one margin. Opposition to fracking is also higher in upstate New York, with 52 percent of voters opposed, and 38 supporting the gas drilling process.
The Siena College Poll was conducted by phone to 804 registered New York voters from June 9-13.
By DAN MOSHER
July 08, 2013
As the Cuomo Administration continues to study the possible health risks associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the Green Party of New York state is reiterating its call for the complete criminalization of fracking.
According to the Green Party, a law to criminalize fracking is not only wanted by the public but necessary due to fracking's potentially destructive effects, not just on the environment, but on public health, economic stability and individual communities as well.
The Green Party has been calling for the criminalization of fracking since 2010 and has since been fighting to help local leaders stop fracking in their own communities by way of home rule measures.
Already in the town of Woodstock, a resolution has passed calling for the criminalization of hydraulic fracturing as outlined in New York Public Law 1 of the state's Penal Code.
Ulster County legislators were asked to follow in the footsteps of Woodstock officials and approve their own fracking criminalization resolution. If approved, the resolution proposed by the Sovereign People's Action Network of Ulster and Greene Counties, a grassroots organization comprised of concerned residents, would support Public Law 1 and the banning and criminalization of fracking in Ulster County.
"Fracking will lock us into climate catastrophe," said Gloria Mattera, co-chair of the state's Green Party. "Either we put all new energy investments into clean wind, water, and solar energy, or we burn fracked gas and emit enough carbon and methane to blow us past the 2 degree Celsius rise in temperatures that climate science tells us is the tipping point for runaway global warming."
"We are at a fork in the road," Mattera said.
A June 17 Siena College Poll found that New York voters are generally opposed to fracking 44 to 37 percent. Republicans support fracking nearly two to one, while Democrats oppose the issue by a two to one margin. Opposition to fracking is also higher in upstate New York, with 52 percent of voters opposed, and 38 supporting the gas drilling process.
The Siena College Poll was conducted by phone to 804 registered New York voters from June 9-13.
